Chiniot - the name is enough to start the furniture lovers, travelers and cautiously curious dreaming. Antiquity is the first message of the town. And, international quality furniture “made in Chiniot” is collectors delight with potentials for marketing all over the world.
On the bank of River Chenab in area called Sandal Bar, Chiniot town is an exotic place in the foot of series of hillocks that seem to be man made rather than evidence of old mountains.
The town is very ancient. It was inhabited before the time when Alexander of Macedon came in the South Asia and was principal city during the rule of White Huns. Chinese explorer Hiuen Tsiang visited it. Alberuni has mentioned in Kitabul-Hind that Chiniot was one of the there most important places in this part of the world.
Chiniot suffered much from the Durrani inroads during the last half of the eighteenth century and also during the troubles of I848 because it remained the scene of constant fierce struggle among the leaders of local factions. As per the local legend, portion of the wall, surviving in situ, had been built during Hellenic period. The veracity of the wall’s association with Alexander the great is yet to be proven though. But the sit does give evidence of its distant past.
During the Mughal era, Chiniot produced many intelligent personalities and talented artisans who occupied positions in the Mughal courts, Nawab Saad Ullah Khan and Nawab Wazir Khan held the post of Prime Minister of India and the Governor of Lahore respectively during the rule of King Shah Jehan.
Artisans of Chiniot have instinctive good taste and they have achieved a distinctive excellence in woodwork. Masons of the town are said to have been employed during the construction of Taj Mahal at Agra and Golden Temple at Amritsar. Special type of furniture with brightly lacquered woodcarving is made in Chiniot and is famous all over the world.
What this internationally acclaimed craft of the town needs is an institutional patronization and extensive efforts for international marketing? Made in Chiniot furniture is already being shipped to different countries but so far there are very little marketing efforts being made for this purpose. It can be a potent source of earning foreign exchange if attention is paid to and earnest efforts are made. Sadly, the trained incompetents responsible for export promotion do not see this and the unique potentials are not being taped yet. The first exhibition of Chinioti furniture in Islamabad last year was attended by large number of people from all walks of life. Particularly foreigners appreciated the furniture for its style, solidity and the cost.
Apart from furniture, there are more attractions for any visitor to this off the beaten track tranquil town. A towering architectural masterpiece Shahi Mosque, which was built during rule of Mughal King Shah Jehan by Nawab Saad Ullah Khan in 1655, is still functional. It resembles the Shahi Mosque Delhi that was also built under the supervision of Nawab Saad Ullah Khan. After the invasions of British, the city lost its old glory and importance. However, the historical buildings and their ruins are scattered in and around the city, reflect its wonderful past.
Another such building is the Umar Hayat Palace commonly known as the Gulzar Mahal. Attracting local and foreign tourist, it is known for its beauty and legendary tales attached to it. The palace is said to have been built by Sheikh Umar Hayat, a rich merchant whose family originally migrated to Chiniot from India.
Legend has it that in a village fair at Panda Haitian, Umar Hayat fell in love with a performer girl and married. She bore him a son and a daughter. Umar Hayat grew particularly fond of his son whom he named Gulzar - a rose garden or a sign of happiness. It was for his son that Umar Hayat decided to construct a wonderful palace and name after him. Umar Hayat could not see the palace completed and later his son Gulzar died mysteriously in the palace in the early hours of his marriage night.
A different tale reveals that the construction of the palace was a result of rivalry between Umar Hayat and Elahi Baksh - a famous artisan of the time. The latter taunted the Umar Hayat by saying that his artistic abilities were superior to all the wealth in the world. Infuriated, Umar Hayat counter claimed that his money would last long enough to buy all the possible feats skilled artisans could offer.
The result of the challenge was the creation of Gulzar Manzil. The construction of the palace started in 1923 and Umar Hayat lavishly spent his wealth. According to one account, the supervision of the construction was assigned to Syed Hassan Shah who gathered famous artisans and carried out day and night work for ten years. Elahi Baksh and Rahim Baksh did the wood carving, for which the palace is known. Both were masters of the art. The Punjab District Gazetteers reads:
“The house built by Sheikh Umar Hayat is a sort of wonder.”
The imposing building is a work of art. The woodwork, the stucco work, inlay of bricks, use of marbles and floral design in the roof, stairways and balconies are living memories of the glories of the Mughal period. Very elaborate and extensive woodwork in the palace speak of the craftsmanship of the artisans who perfected it beyond amazing limits. One has to possess a sensibility shaped in granite not to be moved after seeing the woodwork even today.
The palace originally had six stories including a basement. Two of the upper stories decayed and had to be demolished in 1978. Remains of the building are in the care and custody of Auqaf. Presently it is in public use and houses a library section and a small museum.
Chiniot, a market town in the expanses of Punjab bears a prosperous look. Chiniot has every thing necessary for development - hard working and talented people, fertile land, water, communication infrastructure and clean healthy environment. The furniture industry can be converted into important source of earning though efficient ‘marketing mix’. Given chance Chiniot can be a nice and rich little city of the future.
Photo Credits: Photos for this article have been taken from flickr.com. Clicking on the photos will take you to their source and larger image sizes.
Apart from the furniture Industry, Sheesham wood is extensively used in the construction of our artisan fishing fleet. More than 50 per cent of wood used in constructing a wooden fishing vessel consists of Sheesham. The entire mainframe of the hull or ”baanga” as it called is raised from cut-to-shape ”ribs” known as ”lay” and ”passu” in boat builders’ lingo. Once these cut-to-shape ribs are fitted, it is now time for fixing on to them an outer covering of wooden planks known as ”paatias” . Once the boat is has been fitted with ‘ribs’ which form the chassis of the vessel-and the planks (outer skin) the boat is quipped with ‘deck” . All parts, internal or external- of a launch which would normally be open to ”heavy stress and strain” for sea worthiness are made out of the hard Taali or Sheesham, also called hardwood or sometimes as Rosewood. A very considerable part of sheesham is wasted during the cutting process of ‘ribs’ and other constructional components and auxiliaries of the vessel. Until some years this cuttin waste was thrown away but now due to shortage and high price of sheesham this waste is sold for carpentary jobs or wood craft of smaller sized wooden articles. I recall sheesham coming to Fish Harbor ,Karachi from the Punjab,,,it’s main market used to be near Lahore.
Keekar or Babool is also used as an alternative for Sheesham Though as hard as sheesham it is not the ideal wood for furniture due to the reason that it warps comparatively soon ; gets easily infected by termites; it’s hard to nail; difficult to polish smoothly ; etc etc. It is prized lower than Sheesham and also used in the boat building industry for boat’s outer components. Sheesham also finds extensive use in building cargo and excursion wooden boats for exports to the middle eastern countries.
Both Sheesham and Keekar are sold as large tree trunks (jhaar) which is later cut into planks (paat)and squares(chorsa) or whatever shape you may like to cut.. The white portion and the bark ( chaara)of these trunks are discarded as scrap and used for low quality works/articles of daily use.
Just for the sake of sharing I would like to list some parts of the local fishing boat which may be of interest to know :;
DARI
SOOLFI
RAVISAAR
KORWAAN
SUKHAAN
PAATIAS
KAATRA
THAAPPA
DUGLA
MORA
SAWAI
THUMBLEE
TAALIA
PATHAN
GOLA
GHORI
ETC
>>>The furniture industry can be converted into important source of earning though efficient ‘marketing mix’.>>
About a decade ago, I got interested in buying Chinioti carved furniture and headed towards the main market famous for such stuff. The sellers there had arranged all sort of beautiful wooden furniture inside as well outside their congested shops so much so that most of the central walkway was encroached. I was really very impressed with the craftsmanship. Haggling with several shopkeepers I finally decided to purchase a bed set and some other household articles from one of the shops. After selecting from the unfinished samples lying at the shop, I paid him about 40 percent of the price and asked him whether he was going to deliver me the purchased articles now, at which the seller Chinioti Bhai asked me for some time as he would then have the purchased articles beautifully finished and polished before delivery. Ok, I said, then when should I come? After 3 days. Well, I took the booking receipt and happily came back
home as if I had bought a ‘’stone from the moon!”. On the fourth day I rang up the seller but to my disappointment his telephone was out of order. Nevermind. I personally drove over 20 km to his shop just to find that my Chinioti Bhai was not there and his brother who was there told me that my articles were not yet ready and that I better checked after another 3-4 days. He gave fantastic excuses for the delay, such as the Truck which was bringing down my articles was somehow stuck up on the way, etc etc. Upon my complaining about his ‘out of order’ telephone he regretted bad lines and handed me over some alternate number. Well, I returned home disappointed and let down just to find after 6 days that the furniture articles the Chinioti Bhai was delivering me were definitely NOT the articles I had selected for purchase! My God, what the heck that Chinioti had done. I refused to accept delivery. However, glibbery as he was, he succeeded in ‘encumbering ‘ with the stuff and accepted my condition that I will make balance payment only after the articles are delivered to my house and approved by my house hold. After a few hours, the ”famous Chinioti articles” arrived at my house to the horror of my house hold ! they protested against the design and workmanship which was completely against the sample shown them ! The workmanship was third class and material used was inferior in quality and undersize as well. The polish was fresh and sticky-perhaps it was not polish but some sort of cheap varnish! Anyhow. I was amazed at the strange business like manner of the furniture seller: Instead of taking his goods back he left those at my house saying he would come after a few days by which time things would cool down ! I convinced my household to accept the furniture as a compromise with the seller as he was willing to reduce the price and if they didn’t accept the furniture now it may take another month to get new one after losing the advance already paid to the present supplier ! Willy nilly , the folks at home arranged the bed set and table etc in one of the rooms used by lady members of the house, I felt a little relieved. Just 3 days had passed that one of my sons came running to me stating that one of the bed has collapsed ! Gosh, I asked, what happened? One of the bed’s side has had got fractured ! replied my son and went away with a mysterious smile on his face! I rushed to see the ‘tragedy’ that had happened and was shocked to find the bed had snapped due to one of its broken sides ! This made me angry and I regretted having ‘duped’ by the Chinioti furniture seller. I decided i will pay nothing more now to him whatever may be the case. In the meantime, my son called in a carpenter who arrived carrying a log of wood which he worked into making a new side for the newly bought Chinioti artifact ! Upon inquiry, the new carpenter told me that the whole furniture that I had bought was made from new and old wood and as all could see it was not of prime quality. Anyway, I kept quite and had just retired when the Chinioti Bhai rang at my door ! I told him what had happened earlier and that I was going to pay him the balance only if he replaced the entire furniture with the new one which I had seen at his shop and ordered for. But my words worked like water falling only a slippery rock ,,,he argued and argued to deceive me again but by now experience had taught me enough. After some hot arguments I told him to get lost and unless he complied with my demand for replacement in 7 days from the I was neither going to pay him his balance nor return the delivered furniture.
I don’t know when he left but I was later told he stayed outside my house for about an hour before leaving !
Some days later, the great Chinioti Bhai again turned up. this time accompanied by some ”intercessor”, who first tried to convince me politely but after my refusal to shift from my stance on replacement and reimbursement he embarked on threats. I shut the door and tell them to buzz off before I called the police at which the ‘contemnor’ of the Chinioti Bhai unashamedly challenged me to call police as he was not afraid of it. I was quite taken aback at the sheer ”audacity’ and ”bluffing” . Finally, to get rid of the goons I had to get a little rash which helped frightened away the bums ! After that, I got a lesson: never to go for Chinioti furniture again !!!
So, my this story tells upon why Chinioti Furniture, although of exceptional beauty and craftsmanship, couldn’t fetch international or even national market to the potential it has. I suggest that there be a regulatory authority to monitor the business conduct of the furniture sellers and unless and until fair trade practices are not strictly observed, not in relation to Chinioti furniture only, but many other indigenous articles and items of export potentialities , neither the respective item, article or the industry dealing in them would flourish nor Pakistan be able to adequately benefit from maximum earnings from their marketing or export potentials.
Tina:
Just a tiny, teeny bit of correction. Sheesham is a hardwood, not softwood. Walnut is a softwood.
But you are right, there is not enough wood in Pakistan to sustain large scale export of furniture.
the work of wood which i have seen here is really remarkable, fascinating, gorgeous, splendid and beautiful. I have for the very first time experiance to seek such a nice piece of master piece of wood-work. I do really appreciate the worker who has performed this excellent work with his able hand and he must have used his experince of his whole life to accomplish this magnificent work. I am fully guy after seeing this work.Only an expert critic can in fact make count of all the qualities of this work but a lay person like me can only observe this work with open eyes.So,this work really represents pakistani culture and its essence and it also does highlight the historical aspects of muslims way and style of the construction of the building and i am myself very happy to see it and i can well remember the splendid period of muslim rulars who were fond to make such beautiful and seenable buildings.This work would prove very crucial for the students of history and it will enhance the knowledge of historians who visit several places only for the purpose of discovering new things and this masterpiece will really prove helpful for them and they will be able to even write books in which work of wood, crafts, design would be favoured.
Lovely post. Simply wonderful.Its been a couple of years since i had the pleasure of being there. but my parents were born in chiniot so i have lived my share in this busy and quaint town.
Thanks you for rekindling these memories with this post.and yes most of the chiniot sheikh braderi is now in karachi with very few back in chinot but these folks are still doing a lot of welfare activities which inclide the chiniot islamia hospital and other charitable organizations.
My forefathers settled in Chiniot once they moved from Delhi in the 1750s, and lived there till my parents and their siblings moved out of it in the 60s and the 70s. Yet I have visited this place many a times though the have visited it only once after my childhood.
I never felt any love for the place while I was young. It looked all dirty and filthy to me, with mass of dirty children stalking the streets. Yet it seemed to have a culture of its own, with its own tazianas that they take out on Muharram, the kind one would not find any where else.
Yet one thing has always amazed me. Chiniot, a small town or city, on the banks of River Chanab, and has existed for hundreds of years, has yet lost its signifiance just because somewhere in the 1910s - or is it 1920s? - the British Raj built a new city from scratch, Faisalabad, which is just 35 Kms from Chiniot. That hotch potch of businesses and labor, what was originally called Lyallpoor, has got anything but culture, and thus despite its size could never match the grandeur of Lahore or the indigenous culture of Chiniot. I still wonder what got into the head of the British not to build a Faisalabad out of Chiniot? Then it would have been a commercial as well as a cultural and historical hub, all in one.
Tina,
Surely there should be some way to save forests before cutting down hundreds or thousands of years old trees. But I see no hope in Pakistan for it as we need to go million miles to learn such things. Anyway here is a nice site where you can see some Chinnot’s masterpieces.
The Chinioti is a very well-established and successful business community in Karachi. Sometime I wonder why it is so ? Is there something in their history , which I don’t know?.Can somebody enlighten me?